As discussed in class, there are tools that will help you create Web pages. However, for the purpose of the Web Development class, you will be using a plain editor, not one designed to manipulate HTML. The reason is to give you an understanding of HTML that would be difficult to gain using a specialized editor that hides details from you.
You will be working with a Unix-like computer system, Red Hat Linux, in command-line mode. Some of the commands you will need are explained in this document. You can find a brief summary of other Unix commands here: http://www.itd.umich.edu/itcsdocs/r1159/. Unix commands and file names are case sensitive. I recommend that you use all lowercase letters for file names.
To connect to the Web development computer from an MS Windows PC, choose Start, then Run, and type telnet webdev.spsu.edu Follow the instructions in Your Computer Account to log in.
Microsoft Windows telnet is somewhat {ahem} rudimentary. You might want to consider SecureCRT, which has a free 30-day evaluation and a very cheap price for students, or PuTTY, which is even cheaper, namely free. Either is a substantial improvement on the Windows telnet client.
If you are running a Mac OS computer, use the "terminal" program.
SSH and SFTP connections to the server are available if you prefer to use them. (If you don't know what SSH is, just use telnet. SSH encrypts the connection between your PC and the server.)
You can view your class Web pages from anywhere on the Internet. The URL for your Web page is:
http://webdev.spsu.edu/~userid
Where "userid" is the user ID of your computer account.
Your Web page is password protected. Your user ID is the same one you use for telnet and FTP. Your Web password will be synchronized to your telnet password automatically, but it may take up to an hour from the time you change your telnet password for your Web password to change. In the meantime, just use the old password.
Important: If you are using the Windows XP telnet client you will need to type export TERM=vt100 before starting nano in order to make the arrow keys work right. If you are compfortable doing so, you can automate this function by editing your .bash_profile file. Note the leading period in the file name. The export command must be capitalized exactly as given above.
If you are using PuTTY, SecureCRT, or Mac Terminal, the arrow keys will work as you expectwhen you're editing your files.
When you log on to webdev.spsu.edu, you will be in your own home directory. Your Web files must be created in a subdirectory named public_html. Change to this subdirectory by typing cd public_html and pressing enter. To find the full name of a directory you are working in, type pwd (print working directory) and press enter.
You can view the files in a directory with the ls command; ls -l gives a long-form listing. When your account was set up, a file called index.html was created for you. As part of your first assignment, you will be manipulating this file.
If you are familiar with the vi editor, you may use it. Otherwise, I recommend that you start with the Nano editor. To edit your index page, type nano index.html and press enter. Move around the page with the arrow keys, type to add text. To get help with Nano commands, hold down the control key and press G. To exit, hold the control key and press X. You will be asked whether you want to save your changes. Generally you will type Y.
When you have changed a Web file, you should pull it up in your browser to verify that the change did what you expected. Often, your browser will have cached (stored) a local copy of the page. To see your changes, you may need to use the refresh or reload button.
You will use the file transfer program, FTP, to transfer files between your PC and the Web Development computer. All MS Windows computers have this program. Open a command window (DOS box) and type ftp webdev.spsu.edu Log in using the same user ID and password you used for telnet. To change to your HTML directory, type cd public_html If you are transferring a binary file, such as a picture, give the binary command; if you are transferring text, give the ascii command.
To transfer a file from your PC to the Web development computer, type put <filename> You must be "in" the directory where the file resides on the PC.
To transfer a file from the web development computer to your PC, type get <filename> The file will be stored in the current directory.
When you have finished transferring files, type quit
If you need help uploading a picture to your Web page, you will find help in the form of a brief (six minute) audio and slide lesson here: http://www.spsu.edu/cs/faculty/bbrown/it3204/it3204_02_2a.html. You may want to download and print the slides for this lecture before you view the lecture so that you can use them to take notes. The slides are here: http://www.spsu.edu/cs/faculty/bbrown/it3204/it3204-02-2a.pdf.
The Webdev computer does not have an attached printer. To print a file, transfer it to a PC using FTP and print from the PC. You can also use the printing facilities that are built into the CRT program if you chose to download it.
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Last updated: 2007-01-14 14:26